Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have increased levels of anti-endothelial cell antibodies (AECA), research shows.

"These findings suggest that an autoimmune component associated with endothelial cell damage is possibly involved in COPD," comment lead researcher Naoki Inui and colleagues from Hamamatsu University School of Medicine in Japan.

The findings come from a study of 116 patients with COPD and 157 individuals without any clinical or radiologic evidence of COPD, asthma, or other respiratory conditions (controls).

All of the COPD patients except one were current or previous smokers, with a median smoking history of 51 pack-years. A total of 82 controls had a history of smoking similar to that of the patients with COPD, but with normal spirometry results. ...